From M.V.P. to Federal Prisoner

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Published: January 22, 1998

The former pitching star Denny McLain, accused yesterday of involvement in a calling-card scheme, has seen his fortunes plummet since he won 31 games for the World Series-champion Detroit Tigers in 1968.

His latest legal troubles center on accusations that he sold telephone cards that were inoperable or valueless to customers and also sought to defraud the phone companies that were selling long distance services. Prosecutors say John Gotti Jr. and his mob associates were also involved in the scheme.

The charges reflect seemingly unending legal troubles for Mr. McLain, 53, a man who in the 1960's sat at the top of professional baseball. In 1968, he was a unanimous choice as the American League's most valuable player. That season he won the Cy Young Award as the league's best pitcher.

But he was suspended for the first half of the 1970 season by the Baseball Commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, for involvement in ''bookmaking activities'' in 1967.

In March 1985, he was found guilty of racketeering, extortion and cocaine possession in Tampa, Fla., and sentenced to 23 years in prison. The conviction was overturned in 1987 because of judicial error and prosecutorial misconduct. In October 1988, he entered a plea agreement that avoided another trial and was sentenced two months later to time served -- 29 months in jail.

By the mid-1990's, Mr. McLain was in trouble with the law again. In December 1996, he and his partner in a meatpacking company were convicted in Detroit of looting $3 million from its pension fund. Mr. McLain was sentenced to eight years in prison and was at a Federal correctional center in Bradford, Pa., when the indictment naming him was announced yesterday in White Plains.